But alas...here we are at the end of February and so I wanted to do a quick wrap up for the challenge.
January :
I read Tramp for the Lord, James Herriot Treasury, Greenglass House, The Personal Points Cookbook, the book of James (repeatedly), Flight of the Dragon Kyn, The Great Passage, Eat That Frog (did not finish by end of the month though), A Place to Hang the Moon, A Christmas Carol, and The Llama Who Had No Pajama.
My favorite from January : Tramp for the Lord and A Place to Hang the Moon
February:
I read Prisoner B-3087, Book Girl, 84 Charing Cross Road, Fish in a Tree, Little White Horse, The Winter Garden, Just Mercy (YA edition), The Hunger Games, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the book of Philippians (repeatedly).
My favorite from February: Just Mercy and Fish in a Tree
I am so glad that I finally picked up Just Mercy to read it, but you cannot read this book and be the same person when you are done (even the young adult version). I am what many people term a "sensitive reader", and that coupled with how hard our days and weeks can be, I picked up the young adult version. Last year actually. But I waited to read it and this past week, after moving the stack that it set on top of (again!) so that I could get to my shelf to find a math book we needed, I decided there was no time like the present to dig in.
I was NOT prepared for this book.
It immediately sucked me in, I found myself looking for time so that I could squirrel away another five minutes. I found myself having to pace while reading some chapters just to process the events in that chapter and alternatingly praying and crying and just so heartbroken over the lives that were destroyed. I hesitate to use that word because so many, soooo many in this book overcame overwhelming odds - but in that period of time - when their lives were turned upside down and justice wasn't even an option for them - I just don't know what else to say except that it destroyed that season of their life.
I don't know that I have the words to adequately give this story it's worth in review. It is in short an AMAZING story - not amazing in the way that it's awesome and good (although the fight for justice and sheer perseverance is in fact awesome and good) - but it is an amazing story in that it happened. Right here in America. When I was a teenager (the main story took place then, but the side stories he tells about other people - those are still happening into the 2000s). When racism was supposed to be all but gone, when we were at the height of the "good years" of America (or so we were told going through school). I am still stunned by this book.
I think this book needs to be read. And reread. And reread again. It is SO important that we not forget - that we get distracted by other things. One life is worth fighting for. One life is worth seeking justice for. Hundreds (perhaps thousands?) are still waiting for that fight to come for them. What can I do? Am I praying daily for the imprisoned?
Oh that justice would run down like water. And that righteousness would be an ever-flowing stream. (from Amos 5:24)
As I look back over the list of what I have read the past two months, I realize the old adage that five minutes here and five minutes there will truly add up. Almost all of these books were read five or ten minutes at a time - only a few were read out loud so that we could enjoy them together, several were re-reads (a visit to an old friend is SO important, and my books are some of the best friends I have 💖), and a few times I read while the rest of my family watched a movie. But the bulk of the reading took place in small snatches of time: waiting in the car, while folding laundry, waiting for the water to boil, sitting next to the girls while they worked on their school work etc; 💝
*edited to add* I came so close to finishing The Little White Horse ,but didn't quite get it done by the last day of February. What a beautiful book though!! Will definitely be re-reading this one.
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